In 1993 I moved from Santa Cruz, CA to Zimbabwe for an internship as part of my major - Community Studies (UCSC). For 6 months I volunteered as a counselor, math teacher and administrator at a government “rehabilitation” center for street kids, orphans and “delinquents”. Overall it was a sobering experience as I faced rampant corruption, nepotism and surprising apathy. It was a pretty hopeless situation that left me and my lofty ideals devastated (to make a very long story short). The experience however was invaluable.
During that time, I was fortunate to befriend a group of artists who became my peer group during my stay in Zimbabwe. One of these artists was Gedion Nyanhongo, eldest son in a family of 19 children and now widely considered to be one of the finest stone sculptors on the planet. Through my relationship with Gedion, I would meet others sculptors (including his younger brother Collen Nyanhongo - also a widely celebrated artist) and give birth to the idea of representing him in America, and his internationally acclaimed sister Agnes Nyanhongo. I had no experience in the field of art, no formal training or schooling, but what I found was a true passion for their work and genuine friendships. Thus was the genesis of my business (and subsequent galleries) called Mudzimu in Santa Cruz and Carmel. Since 1994 I’ve been representing these artists, traveling to Zimbabwe, collecting stone sculptures, and hosting exhibitions around the western United States. This is how I came to be in Zimbabwe in May 2006, and how I came to stumble across the Maulana School for Orphans. Full circle.
